1 November DWSI meeting ‘Quo Vadis, Europe?’ with top economist Bas Jacobs

DWSI meeting on the European economy

On 1 November the DWSI members will meet to discuss economic developments in Europe. Dutch Minister of Finance, Dijsselbloem, rechristens the SNS bank ‘De Volksbank’, but admits that it will have to be reprivatised in a few years; this is Europe’s will, even if it goes against that of the majority in the Dutch Lower House. The British have indicated they no longer want to be part of Europe, while Ukraine tiptoes in our direction.  Prime Minister Rutte speaks of the end of the crisis, while Italian banks are still on the verge of collapse. An internal IMF report indicates that grave mistakes were made in Greece, and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz has openly expressed his opposition to the euro. What is Europe’s economic future? Does the euro still have a future? Is Wilders’ Nexit a real option? What will European economic policy look like in the years ahead? And what does this mean for the Netherlands? These key questions will be on the agenda in this last DWSI think-tank session of 2016. Under the guidance of top economist Bas Jacobs, we will delve into the how and why of European political economy, and explore the consequences for the Dutch water sector. Bas Jacobs has been Professor of Public Finance and Economic Policy at the Erasmus School of Economics since 2007. He is  research fellow at the Tinbergen Institute and CESifo. He is academic partner at CPB, president of the Royal Netherlands Economic Association (KVS), and a member of the economists’ panel of BNR and the online economic magazine MeJudice. He publishes regularly on Dutch and European economic policy. In 2013 his colleagues named him ‘best in his field’.

Register for DWSI or this meeting

The meeting will take place on 1 November from 14:00-19:00 in Oud-Zuylen. DWSI members can register for the meeting by sending an email to . If you’re considering becoming a member of DWSI, contact Andrew Segrave or Henk-Jan van Alphen.